


Can you read me?

by Bumbling_idiot



Category: Homestuck, Lifeline (Video Game 2015), Whiteout
Genre: #SendSolluxFood2k17, Angst, Corpses, Cute Pups, Death, Existential Crisis, Help, Interactive, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Reader-Interactive, Someone please help Sollux, This is less shipping and more dont die, WHO IS SHE, What is even going on?, it started again, lots of damn snow, mental breakdowns, whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2018-09-15 21:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9257066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bumbling_idiot/pseuds/Bumbling_idiot
Summary: When Sollux wakes up isolated in a large snowy wasteland, the only contact he can make is with the hot-headed troll Karkat. Despite not knowing each other Karkat still tries his best to keep Sollux away from danger, and maybe even death.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to make this close to the actual game so at the end of the chapter ill give a choice on where to send Sollux next and any big decisions like that. If he dies I will have to carry on writing from the different option.  
> The most requested option is the one I will write next!  
> The options will appear in [ ] at the end of a chapter.

The only thing Sollux could see after waking up was white, pure white. It was below any bearable temperatures so he struggled to keep his thick coat wrapped around his body. His head was buzzing and at first he couldn't think straight, who he was and how he got there were two big questions he couldn't answer.  
After moments he was stumbling to his feet in the thick snow, thick boots were the only things keeping him from collapsing again in the cold.  
He attempted to look for something anything that wasn't simply snow, but nothing was there. The cold breeze was anything but comforting, it made his eyes water and make him turn his head to look in the opposite direction. 

Just as he was about to start trudging off into the distance he noticed that tucked into the hood of his coat was a thin wire, he followed it down to a small phone like device. It looked more like a walkie-talkie than anything. Out of curiosity he began shuffling through the snow while speaking into the device.  
"Hell-o"  
"Ith- anyone.."  
"I think I had an accident.."  
The way he mispronounced the letter S was surprising to him but he didn't think too hard about it.

On the other side of the line a much shorter troll had heard the messages, though static cut off most of the words coming from his device. 

"Fuck- who is this? You've got some shitty connection."

Sollux was genuinely shocked when another voice came through, what was this he was feeling? happiness?  
"ca- you rea- me?"  
"hold -o" Sollux fiddled around with the antenna for a few moments and straightened it out to point toward the sky.  
"Ith that better?" 

Karkat leaned forward to the microphone on his desk and let out a sigh in relief "Yea that's much better- Wait who are you? What happened?"

Those were the two questions Sollux couldn't even answer.  
"I don't- I don't know. I've jutht woken up, there'th thnow everywhere." 

"Ok calm down for just a fucking moment. You don't know what your God damned name is?!" He could tell Sollux was confused and probably freaking the fuck out. "Can you contact anyone else that can actually help"

"Your- your the only perthon I can get to.." 

"Ok ok just- you said you can only see snow correct? Are you COMPLETELY sure there is absolutely nothing else?"

"I mean I can check around but... hold on there'th, I can hear thomething."

"WELL??"

"It'th a helicopter! it'th  
on fire... fuck." 

"WOW. How fucking convenient!" Karkat took a moment to process this, he was contacting someone he had never met before who was... stranded in a snowy terrain? It wasn't even snowing where Karkat was. He wondered how far he had to be before any connection was lost. 

"It'th crashed jutht patht a mountain... North" Sollux had checked the compass that was placed just in the corner of his Comm. He continued shuffling through the snow in no direction in particular. 

"OK just- are you SURE you don't even remember your name?"

"No, but there ith thomething on thith coat. It readth "S.Captor"  
tho... Jutht call me Captor." 

"Alright then Captor. Not sure you should go towards the helicopter yet. Anything else interesting happening?" 

"there'th ..." It took Sollux a moment to notice the red blinking light to the East. It blinked in a slow rhythm just above another small mountain.  
"A blinking light." 

"...Right. Just let me think for a fucking moment. You have two places here and honestly I don't have a clue what is the best option. Where you are.. is it almost morning?" 

"I don't know, it'th thtill dark but i have to get inthide before thunrithe." Sollux stopped in the snow for a moment and looked between the two destinations. The blinking light could lead to a building somewhere, a radio station? But the helicopter could hold survivors and supplies. 

"Yea.." 

 

[ Helicopter or Blinking light ]


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm super impatient, so I'm going with what "Candymouse22" suggested which was the helicopter! Thank you for that btw ;u;

After a while of thought Karkat tuned back into the radio frequency to check on his new friend.   
"Hey, are you still there?" 

While waiting for Karkat's opinion on the situation Sollux had gone exploring for a while. He had come across what looked like a lake that had been completely frozen over. There was a large snowmobile slowly sinking into the ice water, accompanied by a large briefcase resting a few feet away.   
"Yea im, thtill here. Where do you think I should go?" 

"Just head for the crash site, finding others out there would be fucking amazing by this point and the way you described it... it sounds closer." 

'Alright- jutht let me grab thith-" Sollux carefully made his way onto the thick ice, though it was unlikely it would break he was still careful. 

"What are you doing?" 

"There'th a briefcathe, it might have thomething inthide tho im taking a look." 

"Just be god dammned careful." 

Karkat could hear a quiet beep and then, silence. Sollux had gone offline so he could use both of his hands to support himself on the ice, slowly shuffling forward on all fours until he grabbed the briefcase by the handle and pulled it back towards himself. The only problem now was getting back to shore. He frantically looked around for anything to grab onto, but the only things he could see that were not pure white was a column of smoke coming from the crash site and the briefcase he held close to his chest.  
Without thinking he shot up to stand on two legs and began running, running across the ice back where he came. The sounds of cracking glass soon followed as the ice became unsteady, and the snowmobile almost immediately sunk to the bottom. 

He looked back at the lake panting, lucky to get away from the water he began making his way to the crash site while cradling the briefcase like a child.   
He inspected it while walking, brushing off the snow and thin layers of frost that had formed along all the details of the case. He was only presented with a large metal lock keeping it shut and a rather peculiar looking logo on the front. 

"Hello?"  
"I got it, and im thafe, didn't drown." 

"WAIT YOU WENT ONTO A FROZEN LAKE?!'  
"idiot."  
"Are you on your way to the helicopter? We don't know how much time we have left until sunrise!"

"Yeth yeth im on my way..."  
"There'th thomething on thith cathe. Like a logo. But it'th altho locked."

"OK yea no one cares about the shitty company who made it just try smash that shit open."

"With what? there aren't any rockth around, or, anything really."

"Try picklocking it?"

"It'th jutht a nob, that turnth left or right." 

"Turn it... left?"

Sollux did as he was told and turned the lock to the left, a small clicking noise could be heard from inside the case. 

"yeth that'th, I think that'th right.. now what way?"

"UHH Fuck, Right?" Once again the lock clicked, Sollux and Karkat continued to argue about what way to turn the lock for at least 10 minutes during Sollux's hike toward the crash site.   
But eventually it did open. 

'YETH!" Sollux yelled over the Comm, actually excited to see what inside. He didn't know why he was so happy about opening a stupid case, Maybe because its the first real victory he's had? 

"OK jesus calm down, what is it?" 

"Jutht- beef jerkey, a buthinethh card?" Karkat couldn't help but roll his eyes everytime Sollux's lisp came up in their conversations, But he soon realised it wasn't intentional and he would have to just get used to it. 

"It readth "Dr. M. Helmsman Biomedical Research and Development. ALT Internationals" mean anything?" 

"No I have, absolutely no idea who the fuck that is. But you have some food right and that's what matters. Get your sorry ass to that helicopter right now." 

"OK OK calm down would you.. I'm on my way. And I'll call you back when I get there."

"Wait wait just-" But Sollux had already disconnected to continue his hike. 

 

It must have been at least 4 hours. But Sollux did eventually call back. Karkat had rushed back to his desk when he heard the static coming from his side of the line.

"Captor? Fuck what's going on out there?!"

"It'th jutht a thorm hath picked up, but I made iit. And the whole helicopter ith on fire. No one thurvived."

"Shit... Have you searched them?" 

"If I were to get any clother I would get burnt. But the fire ith tho nice and warm-" Sollux sat himself a few feet away form the burning vehicle and looked toward the cooked bodies.

"Right right- Fuck." 

"If the thource of the fire wathnt the dead bodieth of pilotth, thith retht would be much more enjoyable."  
He was right too, the two corpses were hunched over what was left of the main control panel of the helicopter, their faces weren't even recognisable anymore. Charred and black from the fire that had engulfed the entire scene. 

"That is, really fucking disgusting. Are you sure you want to see that?" 

"It'th- i'll deal with it. And if that'th ok with you im going to retht here for a while to get my energy back. Make motht of the fire."

"Yea of course just. Find shelter by morning. even if you build a fuking igloo its something." 

"I can thee tho much from up here. I can even thee a- a building." 

"A building..."

"Yea it'th jutht- There! Oh and a... it lookth like a bridge." 

"Well I mean the building can give you shelter.. how far away are they?" 

"The bridge lookth to be 2 mileth away, the building. much farther." 

"Shit." 

[Head towards the Building? or the Bridge?]


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you "JustShippingTrash" and "Arewegroot" for suggesting the building path! Also thanks to "An Errant Tumbleweed (cryogenia)" for suggesting Sollux actually make an igloo...   
> Which will probably happen.   
> I write these notes before the chapter so we will see! XD

Karkat had been making his decision for a while, eventually deciding that Sollux should head to the building. Even if it was farther away it could provide some permanent shelter until he gets found, IF he gets found. Honestly, Sollux wouldn't mind just staying up on this mound with the fire, he had laid himself down on the snow, hood up and head resting on the briefcase. 

"Captor! Have you frozen to fucking death? HELLO?"

"Holy shit calm down I'm rethting. Though freezing to death theemth like a pothhibility."

"PhEW. OK so, You don't know how long it'll take till morning so I need you to find somewhere to sleep for the day, around here. Then you'll have the full night tomorrow to travel."

"uhh.. I mean" Sollux sat up and quickly shook the freshly fallen snow from his hair, face and hood. "You had an igloo idea." 

"Can you reaaally build an igloo?"

'Have thome faith in me. I can at leatht try." Sollux let out a sigh and got back up to his feet, dragging the briefcase a bit away from the burning helicopter. The land was quite unstable and snow was thrown in random mounds caused by the impact of the vehicle. So he began smoothing out the snow to mark where he would attempt to make a temporary home. He began picking up lumps of snow and trying his best to shape them into what resembled bricks, it did take some practise to get one right.. After many mounds collapsing back to the ground in his hands.   
Most of the time Sollux had forgotten to mute himself on the Comm, so Karkat was left listening to Sollux's cursing and yelling about how shit he was at building with 'thupid fucking ath frozen fucking water' Which admittedly did make Karkat laugh quite a lot. 

"What are you laughi- FUCK" Sollux's sudden realisation was hilarious to Karkat, which made him laugh even more. 

"YOUR JUST- PffFffT- aaaaahahahaaahhh" 

"I'd like to thee you out here trying to build a fucking igloo!"

"You'd never get me out there. It's not even snowing back here!"

"Yea yea... I'm making THOME progrethh though." Sollux was stood in front of what loosely resembled three walls of a very, very small house. He would use some of the snow to put out parts of the fire and use the plates of metal from the helicopter for a roof, just to shield his eyes from the harsh sunlight.

"Well im guessing its going to get light soon, so if I were you I'd finish up and get some sleep."

"Yea- I jutht gotta..." Sollux trudged through the snow toward the helicopter and began shovelling snow up onto the side with his thick gloves, by the time any parts of the helicopter were safe to touch Sollux couldn't feel his fingers. They were numb from too much work and to help he held his hands out towards the small flames. "fuck-" He muttered to himself, before grabbing a hold to a large slab of metal from the helicopter and ripping it off, which admittedly wasn't too hard.   
He took the piece back to the makeshift shelter and placed it on top of the three snow slabs.. 

"There"

"Is it done?" 

"Yup. It'th got an open wall though ath I couldn't make a fourth-"

"That should do. Now hurry." 

"Yea I'm on it-" Sollux took one last look out into the distance, toward the building he would be making his way too tomorrow. He then realised how light it was getting outside and quickly closed his eyes with a hiss, getting onto all fours and crawling into his 'shelter'. Out of fear he kicked the metal from the top of the walls and placed it down where the fourth wall would be.   
After he was sure Karkat had fallen asleep he pulled his hood back up, curling up into his coat with a piece of beef jerky in his mouth. He didn't know how long it would be till he found anymore food so tried to ration what he had. 

\-------------------------------------------------

It must have been luck that kept Sollux alive. Because when he woke up the next night he was completely covered with snow, which he assumed was from his makeshift shelter. The fire on the helicopter had almost completely gone and he felt like he couldn't, even, breathe.   
He quickly regained consciousness and let out a gasp for air, thrashing about to get the mountain of snow off himself. He immediately reached into his pocket for his Comm, to tell Karkat what had happened but- 

It wasn't there. Almost in tears he began digging into the snow, not caring about how numb his body was or how much his face felt frozen stiff he dug for that fucking thing.   
He didn't realise until it was being flung into the air by his furious digging, the Comm had landed right next to the helicopter and Sollux was in tears because of it. He had only known this person for a day but without them, he would probably be dead. Karkat kept him sane in this wasteland.   
He lifted the briefcase from the snow and fell to his knees next to the helicopter, sniffling and brushing the snow away from his face. Sollux picked up the Comm and pressed the button on the side, preying for it to work. 

"CAPTOR I SWEAR IF YOU DONT REPLY TO ME IN THE NEXT FIVE GOD DAMNED SHITTING MINUTES ILL-"

"HOLY SHIT IT THTILL WORKTH" 

"OH my god where did you go?? I thought you had died?!"

"i - thlept in ehehe- and-" Sollux was talking through quiet sudden sobs, he wasn't sure if they were from his outburst or out of happiness. 

"Are.. are you crying?"

"No no I jutht- fuck. I thought I lotht the Comm, YOU, I mean. I thought I lotht you."

He got a hold of himself and stopped his sobbing, opening the case and emptying the packs of beef jerky into his pockets, along with the business card. As he felt around the case he noticed something else in there, something he hadn't seen before. It was a small plastic bag, stained with rust blood and partly opened. Sollux couldn't tell what was inside at first but in a rush he stuffed that in his pocket too.

"Holy shit you were totally crying- I mean, I wouldn't blame you that's ok. Just, Jesus. I cant imagine what its like out there for you... If you need to let shit out I'm always here y'know." 

"heh- yea. Thankth.." With a little shrug and grin Sollux wiped away the cold tears on his cheeks to begin his travel down to the old building in the distance. 

They must have spoken for what seemed like hours, Sollux stumbling around in the snow and Karkat giggling along in the comfort of his own home, at times he really would feel sorry for Sollux. Maybe, when all this was over, he could meet his mysterious lost friend. Sollux continued his journey without fail nonetheless, coming over any little obstacle he could find with Karkat's help.   
It got to the point where Sollux could almost make out what that 'builidng' really was. 

It was no building, more of a large storage unit, but Sollux decided it was better than nothing. 

"Hey I, I can thee what it ith"

"Wait what?"

"It'th not a building, more of a thtorage unit." 

"Shit can you get in?" 

"WAIT."

Karkat was not expecting Sollux to snap back like that but did wait, silent. 

"I can hear a dog-"

"A dog?" 

"Yea" Sollux followed the noises of a dog whining, and what he saw was quite surprising. A small husky locked in a metal cage, he could see how hungry the poor thing was just by looking at it's ribs, which were clearly visible through his thin coat of fur. 

"Fuck it'th, it'th dying. c'mere lil guy-" Despite how much he wanted to get inside Sollux leant down next to the cage to inspect the dog closer 

"Wait fuck- if you let it out it might attack you for - GOD DAMMIT. It's hungry right? You cant let it have your food that shit is limited I- UGH" 

[ Let the dog free OR Look in the storage for food ]


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to "nonbinarysollux" and "Yabasically" for suggesting the storage unit!

"Yea there is no way I am letting you get mauled to death, go inside right the fuck now." 

"But he'th - Jutht. Tho cold." 

"I get it alright I get that he's cold but your the priority right now Captor." 

"Right right- thorry lil' guy..." 

Sollux looked back down at his pocket before taking the pack of beef jerky out of his pocket, snapping off a small piece and tossing it down into the cage for the pup, not telling Karkat of course. He watched in glee as the dog leant down almost instantly and devoured the jerky, tail wagging behind. 

"What's taking you so long?" 

"thorry thorry I'm jutht-" Sollux quickly stood back up and turned to the storage unit in front. It was quite large surprisingly, with a large double door held together by a thick metal lock. 

"It'th locked of courthe, but it lookth weak I might be able to break it?" 

"yea sure just, don't hurt yourself."

Sollux just let out a long sigh, getting fed up of the way his feet and hands could hardly move. He just needed to get inside this fucking unit. After inspecting the lock he decided that it would be best to just break in by force. Taking a few steps back he stopped and thought abut how he was going to break this door, lifting his foot up and kicked straight at lock. The fact that he couldn't feel his foot didn't help, he had no idea how hard he had hit the door and kept repeatedly kicking, hoping for some result. He stopped for a moment, holding his hands up in front of himself and leaning on the door of the unit, panting. 

"I don't think I can-" Just as he went to speak Sollux heard the door jolt behind him. It opened fucking outwards.

"Oh fuck ok tho that'th a fucking thing." 

"What?? Did you open it or-" 

"I think it wath already open a few kickth back." Without hesitation he flung the doors open, to see a dimly lit unit, filled with boxes of mysterious items and food. With another look to the whining dog Sollux stepped inside, it wasn't much warmer then outside but it would do for the night. 

"There'th loadth of boxeth in here, I'm going to thearch through them all." 

"Yea good idea, Let me know if you find anything useful" 

"Yea yea"

Sollux closed the door behind him and began searching through the boxes, most of them were empty or contained items of little significance. Other items, Sollux was lucky to find. Including a flare gun, 4 cans of Lamb stew and a half empty bottle of water. 

"Hell yeth! I mean lamb thtew I wath never a fan of but thith ith great!"

"Oh shit actual food?"

"Yup, and a flare gun, I can only uthe it two timeth though." 

"OK Ok- Save those." Sollux wasn't really listening at the moment, as he was busy making himself slightly more comfortable to start one of the cans of stew. 

"Uh huh yea- too bad thith ith cold. But what do you expect?"   
"Hey what if... What if I can make a fire with one of thothe flareth."

"Are you crazy??"

"What elthe can I do? Freeze to death?" 

"I- yknow what. Fine. But if you get burnt don't cry to me. Again." 

"Yea you wish" Sollux set the can aside and took the flare gun in hand, kicking over a few boxes to the corner of the unit. To pull the trigger he would have to take his thick gloves off, he hesitated at first but shook the right glove off after a moment of fear. He didn't actually remember what he looked like, which made him start to worry. 

"i jutht realithed.."

"What is it?"

"I don't remember what I look like-"

"Oh, I'm not sure how to help there bud, Because I don't know either." 

He pulled the glove off and took a look down at his bare hand, it was grey, his fingers were thin and tinted yellow. gross. 

"Oh, I didn't think I'd be grey." 

"UH YEa- WE'RE ALL GREY- you're a troll, you have horns too y'know." 

"Oh I know that much. Four of them right? yea." 

"Wait FOUR?!"

"Uh yea?"

Sollux took the flare gun and aimed down at the pile of boxes to start a fire. 

"That's super rare. But unimportant right now, how's the fire?" 

"Funny you athk."   
He pulled the trigger, watching the bright red sparks shoot around the room and light the boxes on fire, he watched them combust in all sorts of red patterns and crackling noises.

"Jutht lit it." He looked pretty proud of himself, shuffling closer to the fire and holding his hands out towards it. 

"Ok good- now you should probably eat something" 

"Yea, hold on."   
Sollux went offline for a while to eat and get somewhat comfy in the unit. After waiting a while for the stew to heat up next tot he fire he picked up the can with his gloves, admittedly it didn't smell very appetising. He tried a small amount and had to hold his hand over his mouth to stop himself from spitting it all back out, disgusting tasteless food.   
After three mouthfuls Sollux decided that it was enough, after thinking about it he decided to give his little friend something to snack on.

He put his gloves back on and took the can in hand, opening one of the doors to step outside. The sudden gust of cold air made Sollux feel much more grateful that he had somewhere to stay. He shielded his eyes from the snow and looked around for the cage, eventually he did find the husky pup, laying on it's side curled up in the cage that had been blown over from the wind. Sollux quickly placed the can back inside and rushed back outside, grabbing the cage and beginning to drag it inside. 

"Hold on there I wont- I cant let you jutht die out there." He got the dog inside and slammed the door shut behind him, looking between the dog and the fire with a small smile. 'This is alright' he thought to himself, despite the situation he was in. He sat himself crossed leg next to the cage to take another look at his friend, the husky was clearly young, not quite a puppy but not quite grown up either. His fur was thin and worn away in some places, his ribs and bones were clearly visible. 

Sollux took the can from beside the fire and placed it just inside the cage, slipping it between the metal bars and watching his lil bud dig right in. He didn't seem to mind the flavour or texture of the stew. 

Without hesitation Sollux stuck his hand into the cage and gave his friend a scratch behind the ears, which he didn't mind at all.   
By this pint Sollux was pretty desperate for some interaction from another living thing, so again without thinking about his actions he slid the door of the cage right open. At first the pup seemed confused, licking the residue of stew off his snout. But after some encouragement it stepped out the cage shakily, right towards Sollux who had his arms out waiting for the pup. They both shared a warm embrace, Sollux wrapping his arms around the body of his newest friend and the pup returning feelings by resting his head on Sollux's chest and licking up onto his cheek. 

Sollux picked up the Comm with tears of happiness pricking the corners of his eyes, being smothered with love by the small husky. 

"Oh my god- ahahAAH- AHhhahah Calm down oh my- pFt CAlmmm-" 

"What the fuck Captor, what happened?" 

"I, I made a friend! The dog outthide, he'th a thweetheart really." 

"He didn't eat you alive? Well.. Win Win I suppose." 

"Ehehee yea, it'th going to be morning thoon tho im going to head off to thleep with..."

"With?"

"I need to give him a name don't I?" 

"I mean you can if you'd like." 

"Hm.. How about Blue? Because of thothe big blue eyeth"

"Y'know what, sure. Now go to sleep you doof."

"Fine fine ha- thpeak to you tomorrow. Captor and Blue out." 

Sollux put down his Comm with a content smile, he didn't know how long he'd be able to keep that happiness though. What really mattered was staying alive and keeping Blue with him, because this was one of the best things to happen to him right now.   
Sollux shuffled a bit closer to the fire and watched as Blue cam padding along behind him, he laid himself down with his head resting on a folded up box, holding an arm out for Blue to join, which he did.   
Blue placed himself right on Sollux's chest, curled up with closed eyes.   
They both slept well that night. 

\--------------------------------------------

Everything seemed to be going so well, that is, until Sollux was awoken by Blue whining and scratching at the door. He got up with a groan and wiped the thick sleep from his eyes seeing Blue and shuffling over to the door. 

"Alright, calm down-" As soon as Sollux pushed the door open Blue was gone, running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Before he could even process what happened Blue was gone. He didn't even go after him, because Sollux would never be able to catch up to a dog, even if they were both as weak as each other. 

Instead he closed the door again, sliding down the door and sitting crossed legged on the floor, reaching for the Comm in tears once again. 

"Hey are you-   
are you awake..." 

It took a moment for Karkat to reply but he soon did. Having just woken up he didn't really hear what Sollux said, or could tell he was crying again.

"What? Captor what's up?"

"Blue ith gone."

"oh.. shit I'm so sorry-" 

[Pack up and look for Blue OR Stay and wait for him to come back]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far Sollux hasn't died yet and I'm genuinely surprised. When I played Whiteout I made so many mistakes- So many deaths.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to "knight_of_heart", "Yabasically" and "An Errant Tumbleweed (cryogenia) " For suggesting Sollux wait for Blue UuU

"You shouldn't go off looking for him though, you wont be able to keep up with a dog, even if he has been starved."

"fuck- okay, you probably know better than me right now, I cant think thraight."  
Sollux just rest his head against the wall, feeling the light cold breeze through the bottom of the door. 

"yea just, It's just important that you stay alive until someone finds you... however long that takes."

"for fuck'th thake-" 

"Just try to forget about it for now, how much food have you go- wait, did you hear that?  
I mean if I could hear it from here then of course you did I mean just.." 

"what the FUCK ith that?"  
Sollux shot up form his spot and opened the door slightly, the two of them had both heard a wild scream from outside, followed by a high-pitched yelp. Blue mustn't of got far.  
It was rather hard to see through all the snow being blown in the wind but Sollux could make out two silhouettes in the distance. One had to be Blue, but the other, it looked like another troll. 

"Hold on out there!" Sollux yelled out to the two of them, Blue seemed to be running back toward the unit while the troll stood still in the snow, holding onto something Sollux couldn't make out from this distance.  
"No no no do NOT go out there!" 

"You don't underthand, there'th thomeone out there. Another troll." 

"Holy shit really?? UH- fuck. Don't go far just bring them back here." 

"Yea yea I get it"  
Sollux took a few steps out of the unit and closed the door behind him, being greeted by Blue was such a nice, warming feeling, even if they had only been separated for 10 minutes. They both began making their way to the mysterious troll in the distance, Sollux had to shield his eyes from the violent snow falling during the short journey. They must have been maybe 20 feet away when Sollux could make out the features of the other troll standing before him.  
"Ok I'm heading towardth them, be back." He turned off the Comm for now.

The other had long, shaggy hair that covered a majority of his face, that had been frozen in pure fear and horror. He had been clutching onto a large piece of wood that looked like it had been ripped off the side of a barn.  
Sollux took a few steps forward with his hand outstretched "Are you okay there?" 

The other quickly snapped his head toward Sollux and Blue, stumbling back after slapping Sollux's hand away.

"NO NO NO, ARE YOU- ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?" 

"One of who? Cam down I wont hurt you, lithten to me-" 

"ONE OF THEM. THE- FUUCK" It became clear that the other troll was in pain, Sollux could see that he had an absence of teeth, they must have been ripped out pretty violently. 

"Calm down, who are you talking about? Who did thith to you?" 

"IF YOU DO NOT ANSTHWHER ME, YOU ARE ONE OF THEM. AND THEY MUTHTHT DIE." 

"HoLY SHIT CALM THE FUCK-" Before sollux could finish his sentence the other troll had begun tackling him onto the ground, in violent bursts of anger he would hit and stab at Sollux, who was trying his best to kick and punch back, but to no success. Until Blue pounced right onto the leg of the troll, biting deep into the flesh, he let out a scream and dropped the wooden plank to the side. In agony the troll curled up onto his side in the snow, clutching onto his bleeding leg. 

Despite having a bleeding nose and not being able to feel his left arm Sollux stumbling up to his feet, looking down at the other troll in complete disgust.  
Without having a second though, he kneeled down next to the other troll and began hitting, punching, clawing into his face, watching the blood pour from his mouth and newly cut wounds. In his last breaths the troll wiped the blood from his forehead, moving the hair away from his eyes and looking up at Sollux. 

"You were- Ha- Fuck- thurvive." The troll let out, between wheezes and coughs. Then silence. 

After he was sure the troll was dealt with, Sollux stood back up and took a few steps away, looking at the scene in front of him.  
The now dead body surrounded yellow blood stained snow, Blue gnawing on his leg still and it was all his fault. 

He came back to his senses and looked down at his hands, stained and tinted yellow. Sollux quickly retrieved his gloves from the snow, which he didn't even remember taking off, and began walking back to the unit with Blue skipping by his side. 

"Are you, there?" He said shakily into the Comm

"HOLY Shit what happened? Are you hurt?" 

"I did thomething, but I don't- I'm not hurt I mean, I have a nothebleed but that doethnt matter." 

"Yes it does, what happened? Where's the other guy? Or girl?"

"Dead." 

"Oh fuck." 

"I did it, but, I didn't feel anything. I didn't care.  
I thtill kind of don't. 

What ith wrong with me? I should feel thomething shouldn't I?!" 

"I mean, yea? Fuck don't worry about that right now. Get back to the unit." 

"When I get back I'm looking for a map and packing up. There mutht be more out here." 

"Right.." 

Sollux swung the door open and entered the unit once again, letting Blue follow and closing the door behind him again.  
Once he had warmed back up by the small fire Sollux continued looking through the many boxes and plastic containers for a map of some kind. 

After 15 minutes of violently throwing empty boxes around and looking through the mess Sollux did find, something.  
Co-ordinates. He didn't know where they led to and by this point he also didn't care. 

"Hey I need you to help me with thomething." 

"What is it?" 

"I need you to lead me thomewhere, I have co-ordinateth but I don't know where they lead." 

"Are you SURE?"

"Yeth, I need to get out of here, ath thoon ath potthible."

"OK OK Just, what are they?"  
Karkat pulled up his laptop and pulled up his browser to begin searching 

"Alright what are they?" 

"-insert co ordinates I wont randomly make up here-" 

"Alllright, oh shit ok so, there's a relay station, it's far but that's an option. If I look around theres.."

"What is it?" 

"A Massive facility, like a factory. I don't even know what that's there for. No information about it whatsoever." 

[Relay station OR Mysterious factory]


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to "Yabasically" "Candymouse22" and "An Errent tumbleweed (cryogenia)"  
> For suggesting the relay station, even if some were unsure XD  
> Also I keep noticing regular people commenting and that makes me so happy! Thanks for sticking around guys! ^U^

"OK the- the relay thtation could let me thend thomething, anything, to anyone."

"Yea a cry for help, clever, now it's just getting there.."

"How long will it take?"

"Like, maybe a few hours? Are you alright Togo back out there?" 

"Honethtly no, but I have to." Sollux began stuffing whatever supplies he could into the inside pockets of his coat, not forgetting the flare gun, water bottle and the rest of whatever food he had.  
He took one last seat by the fire before putting it out for good, giving Blue a scratch behind the ear and heading for the door.

"Right Right, I'll direct you." 

Sollux left the unit and closed the door behind him, he decided to try and pick Blue up for a while so his paws wouldn't have to get any colder then they already are. So with one lift Sollux held Blue close to his chest and began trudging through the snow, past the body, past the blood stained snow, past all of that shit. 

\---

It had been at least 3 hours since Sollux started walking, and he could've sworn he saw the relay station in the distance, something did catch his eye though. On the top left corner of the Comm was a better symbol, and it had just began flashing red, with one bar left. 

"Oh shit oh shit"  
Out of panic Sollux dropped Blue to the ground and quickly apologised. 

"What is it? Did you just drop Blue? Rude." 

"Shit no, the Comm. It'th gonna die real thoon."

"Oh FuCK uhh- maybe there's batteries at the relay station? You'll just have to get there as soon as you can."

"Right-"  
Sollux began picking up his speed, occasionally looking over his shoulder or down to his side to see if Blue still followed, which he did. 

After another half an hour of walking Sollux was sure he could see the station, and it wasn't far now. But the cold had really caught up with him. Even through his thick gloves his hands were so numb he didn't even know if he was holding the Comm at times, he couldn't feel his feet or nose. His mind wondered, did Blue feel like he was? Because he wasn't whining and seemed quite content with just waffling along in the snow. 

/ What was he even doing here? And why couldn't he remember anything before he woke up? A bad case of amnesia of course- it must be. And what if he didn't find anything at this station? Would he continue walking place from place in this wasteland until someone decided to look for him?  
Was anyone looking for him? /

His train of thought was broken by Karkat asking how far he was and if the battery was going.

"Uh, I- I'm almotht there, battery could die any minute but I'll look for thomething-"

"OK just let me know if you- d - o -" 

And just like that the Comm had switched off, no way of turning that thing back on. For a moment Sollux just panicked, fiddling with the buttons and speeding up his walking until he finally reached he door of the station. 

The door was unlocked, slightly open but all lights inside were switched off.  
Sollux didn't think much of it at first and let himself in, searching around the walls for a light switch. He felt the bump on the wall and flipped the switch up. The long lights flickered on and off before staying at a dim white light. 

The place was surprisingly tidy, and the epcetrisity was still working. Sollux watched as Blue sniffed about the place and began looking around the room himself, there were many computer desks scattered around, some with monsters still on them. There was a long corridor to the west and a trapdoor leading down to the basement.  
Sollux sat himself down at one of the desks and began looking through the drawers for some batteries. 

After searching three desks he found two double A batteries and hoped they'd work, he clumsily slipped the back of the Comm off and relaxed the batteries, watching and hoping that the screen would flicker on.  
Waiting  
And waiting. 

And it did, the fuzzy logo of "ALT" could be seen on the screen before switching to the normal frequency Karkat was on. 

"Hello?!"

"Are you there?"

"Hello...?"

"HOLY SHIT THERE YOU ARE, CAPTOR DONT EVER DIE ON ME LIKE THAT AGAIN."

"Jethuth fuck no promitheth!"

"Phew-"  
Sollux could tell by the way Karkat had been yelling that he was worried, which actually made him feel good about himself. The fact that someone cared. 

"OK so you made it. Phew- just-  
Have you been around the whole place?" 

"No, there'th a long corridoor with roomth off to the thideth."

"OK try that, I'm staying silent for a while so your Comm doesn't die again but if you need me, just say so alright?" 

"Yea, alright"

Sollux placed the Comm in his pocket and began shuffling toward the corridor, kicking the snow off his boots as he walked.  
As he walked he noticed that the doors all had signs on them.  
Such as "Bathroom"  
And bedrooms numbers 1-5 

The first thought Sollux had was, why would anyone live here? And the second was, is anyone still here? 

To check he began looking through all the rooms. 

Number one, no one present, but filled with belongings, this person must have stayed a while.

Number two, a mess, clothes and furniture misplaced but no one present. 

Number three, sollux couldn't quite get the door open, it was as if something was in the room blocking the doorway. He pushed a bit harder and managed to get a peek inside. 

And what he saw was, disturbing to say the least.  
Bodies, at least ten of them. Scattered around the room, each one torn up and missing limbs all unique, blood stains of different colours were splashed against all four walls. The room was an absolute mess, parts of the walls destroyed and wires hanging out of all corners.  
He closed this door as quickly as it was opened. 

"I-  
Fuck."

"What is it?"

"One of thethe roomth.  
They're jutht filled with  
Dead fucking bodieth."

"Oh shit. Oh man oh man ah- just. Don't go in there alright ignore it!"

"OK OK I jutht- your right. Ignore it.  
It never happened."

Sollux continued down the hallway, 

Number four was a well kept tidy room, it almost looked brand new, but something about it could show someone had been taking good care of this room. 

And number five, well this one was untouched. So Sollux decided he would stay there the night.  
With a proper bed, and a proper bathroom.

It was like fucking Christmas up in here. 

[Go to sleep and rest OR continue exploring]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this one was a bit short, I didn't have much time to write it due to school and revision. But hopefully the next one will be longer!   
> ( If Ya'all make the right choice and let Sollux live. Yes I'm letting you all know this choice is life or death! )


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to "nonbinarysollux" and "An Errant Tumbleweed (cryogenia)" for suggesting to carry on exploring! 
> 
> muahah
> 
> The weird shit is starting.

"you know what I jutht realithed?" 

"what's that?"

"I don't even know what I look like. Hah, memory lotth ith a bitch."   
Sollux stopped and turned to look back at the room labelled Bathroom, would there be a mirror in there?   
well probably.

"Go and take a look? If you can.." 

"Yea there'th a bathroom- wish me luck?"

"Why the fuck would you need luck?"

"I could be one ugly athh"  
Sollux watched as Blue skipped into room number 5 and began sniffing about, he'd be ok there while Sollux went to go to the bathroom. 

He began making his way back to the bathroom, opening the door and taking a step inside. The room was surprisingly clean, compared to some other rooms in the place.. It was very simple, a toilet, small shower and sink with a mirror hung up on the wall.

"Yea I doubt that"

"Jee thankth"

Sollux just let out a deep sigh, took off his gloves and pulled his hood down, stepped toward the mirror and-  
He felt his heart stop for a moment, no that couldn't be true. Could it? He scrambled back up to the mirror after almost loosing his balance and just stared, turning his head to get a better look. 

"Captor? Captor what the hell are you doing?"

"I- fuck, fuck no no what the FUCK?"

"OH MY OD CAlm down?!"

"It'th not me that cant be me no no he died. I killed him. I did it. He'th dead." 

"What...?"

"It'th me, no, it'th him, the troll I-   
oh god oh god." 

"Ok just breathe for a moment, take a step away and tell me what is going on." 

Sollux nodded in response, expecting Karkat to have actually seen him do that and walked back out of the bathroom. He made his way back to room number 5 and kicked the thick boots off his feet. After being inside for a while he had warmed up, this place really was like a home. 

"Ok I- The troll I, fuck, I killed..."

"What about him?" 

"He look'th, jutht like me.   
Or do I look like him?" 

"Like, exactly like you?" 

"Exactly, but, he wath older, hith hair had grown out long and- Oh god he had no theeth." Sollux sat himself on the bed next to Blue and gave him a scratch behind the ears. 

"Jesus Christ- I, honestly don't know what to say about that. Do you think maybe.. I might be overthinking but what if your like... Clones?" 

"I wouldn't be fucking thurprithed." Sollux almost whispered, bringing his knees up to his chest and holding the Comm close to his face. 

"I'm sorry if that seems a bit fucking- Harsh? I have no other way of explaining this crazy shit." 

"I'm going to look around all those computerth, thee if I can find anything." 

"Alright.." 

\-- 

Sollux had made his way back to the main room of the relay station and was sat at one of the desks. He had searched through two computers already and found out what was sealed in the blood stained bag that was found in the briefcase, a USB pen. After inserting it into the monitor Sollux was shown walls and walls of text he didn't recognise, trying to work out what it said was difficult at first but he quickly got the hang of it.   
He was still trying to get over what he had seen in the mirror, but at the same time he couldn't get it off his mind. All he wanted was answers now, and if it meant sitting at this desks nibbling on beef jerky for days, weeks or months he would do it- 

Oh look he figured out how to get past this wall of gibberish text. 

He was almost excited, but then the thought of his situation came back and began disturbing him again. 

"Captor how are you doing?"

"Okay?" 

"Ok good, cause I've been looking around your area and remember that factory?"

"yea?" 

"Well I found out what company it works for, ALT"

"ALT?"

"Yea, doesn't it ring a bell?"

ALT? Sollux did recognise that, but from whe- of course!   
The logo on the briefcase, the company stated on the business card and even the text pasted on the monitor he was using! All ALT. 

"Holy shit wait." 

Sollux pulled out the card from his pocket and looked at it in more detail, Helmsman, That was the name on the card so apparently that is who he was going to find, Because as far as he knew, this 'Helmsman' was the only one with the answers.

But just as Sollux was about to celebrate this new knowledge he stopped, Blue came running into the room yelping and shivering. He quickly knelt down and opened his arms to comfort the pup, giving him paps on the head and shooshing the poor thing.   
The sound of footsteps could be heard in another one of the rooms, they weren't alone and whatever was in there Sollux had missed while checking the rooms. 

five minutes had passed and Sollux had not budged from his spot with Blue, he just watched the entrance to the hallway until he came into view.

It was another, another one of.. himself?   
Oh god he looked exactly like Sollux, hair and all. 

"Oh no not another one of you- leave me alone- fuck.." Sollux had loosened his grip on Blue and shuffled backwards on the floor. 

"shut up. I'm not here to kill you. Not like what you did to number 2." 

"What-" 

"thtop being thuch a crybaby. Number 5 look at me when I'm thpeaking to you dammit" 

"No no no no not looking you are not real." Sollux had completely looked away, convincing himself this was just his imagination, something that would go away. 

"fine, don't look but lithten. I am number 4. I underthtand your confuthed but once I tell you what I have to I can leave." 

"..." 

[Listen or Attack]


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry for being inactive guys, school is a bitch honestly and blame Aam for most of my absence.   
> But yes here we are  
> thanks again to the usual two for choosing Sollux listen. Also "JustShippingTrash"!   
> I have dubbed thee the usual two   
> (nonbinarysollux and An Errant Tumbleweed)

"Are you lithtening to me?" Number 4 asked, quite annoyed now. 

"...Yeth."

"Good, becauthe I have a lot to explain to you." 

Number 4 took a few steps toward Sollux, Blue could do nothing but watch the two confused. 

"tho, you may have guethhed by the door numberth, there are five of uth.   
Well there uthed to be five.   
Would you like to know what happened to the other Captorth?"

Sollux nodded slightly in response, not evening wanting to open his mouth and speak. Even if he did have a load of questions to ask, he would eventually.

"Tho,   
Number one wath the original ath you can tell. The wath thomething wrong though, The Helmthman didn't deem him good enough." 

"You know him?" 

"I've not met him, but if you let me finithh i'll tell you what I know." 

"..."

"Number one thhut down, he wathnt throng enough to carry on.  
Number two came along and he theemed ok, until thome tragic thing happened. Y'know I haven't been told yet. I probably wont find out. It burned hith brain, drove him to a point where he couldn't even thpeak properly. He ethcaped but mutht have run into you.  
The reathon he had no teeth ith becauthe he knew all the trickth. They track you uthing thith tooth y'know. I'd advice you pull it out." Number 4 opened his mouth to show Sollux what tooth he was referencing.

"number 2 didn't know exactly which one it wath." 

"The doomthayer." 

"The what?"

"That'th what I named him." 

"I-   
Anywayth. Number three, now number three wath thpecial. After making improvementth from the latht two he wath given pthionicth." 

"Given what?" 

"You know the- You don't know anything do you?" 

"No."

"Well you have them. Number three and five where the only oneth blethhed with that.  
They're like, moving thingth with your mind." 

"I can, do that?" 

"And latherth. You've theen what can happen haven't you? Room number three. The bodieth." 

"Oh-" 

"Number three went abtholutely crazy about that, became too dependant on it and it fried out hith mind. Thent him on a killing phpree.

Then there'th me, number four.   
I don't have much purpothe. I wath not dethigned to fufill the purpothe Captor modelth were made for.   
I wath made thimply to help you find your way. Becauthe Number five would be perfect." 

"I don't- underthand? What purpothe??" 

"You'll find out thoon enough." 

Number 4 extended his hand out to Sollux and he took it with caution. He pulled the other back up to his feet with a weak smile. 

"They'll be here thoon. If you make it without dying head toward the factory. You''ll find the Helmthman there and he will tell you everything I can't." 

Number 4 just simply let go of Sollux, gave Blue a scratch behind the ears and wished the two of them luck. He stepped back inside his room, room number 4.   
He had stayed here for a long time waiting for Sollux to arrive and now he could finally end this miserable existence.   
He opened the bedside drawer and pulled out the pliers he had kept, taking a seat next to his bed and taking a deep breath.   
It began with just jabbing, he jabbed at his arm until it began to bleed slightly, and then took a hold of the opening of the wound with the tool.   
With one smooth motion he teared back the skin from his arm, letting it hang as the floor became quickly stained with dark gold yellow. 

Sollux stood at the doorway and saw what was happening in complete horror. 

"Four what are you doing??" 

"I told you I've fulfilled my purpothe. My time to go." 

"Oh god Oh god-" Sollux was completely frozen, he didn't feel like he could move. The shock of what he had been told and seeing this was a bit too much. 

"They'll be here thoon. Thurvive and find the Helmthman." With that 4 had completely dug into his arm, pulling out a mess of wires and chunks of metal infused flesh with it. He took the wires from behind the moniter and connected the two.   
For a moment the body lit up, Eyes lightly glowing and it all moving slightly with electric shocks.  
Then silence. The mix matched colours faded form his eyes until it was all just black. 

Sollux watched in horror as Golden dripped from the body's mouth, eyes, nose and ears. He had fried his own brain.

For a moment he thought he was going to puke, but quickly remembered what 4 had said to him, rip out the tooth, survive and get to the factory. 

He shuffled toward the body and took the pliers from his hand, there would be nothing else he could use to sort out this tooth problem. 

Before he did anything he had to update Karkat.

He spoke quietly into the Comm. 

"Are you there?" 

"HOLY SHIT WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN. STOP. SCARING. ME."

"I am a clone." 

"What?"

"There wath another. He wath number four. I'm five and.. oh God he died. he died right in front of me." 

"Stop thinking about it oh my god get out of there." 

"I cant- he gave me thrict inthructionth. I need to- Oh no." 

"What?"

"I need to rip out my- tooth."

"What the fuck no why would you do that?!"

"They're tracking me with it."

Sollux simply ignored Karkat for a while, Having his yelling as background noise as he took the pliers into the bathroom.   
He look in the mirror to make sure he was pulling the right one and tried desperately not to pussy out of this. He had to do it. Had to.  
He hoped it would be out with one pull, but it isn't that simple. The tooth was stuck halfway which made it harder for Sollux to even see inside his mouth. The golden spread everywhere, dripping down his chin and into the sink and he yanked and pulled and- 

It was out. The tooth fell down into the sink and had of the blood washed off it. Four wasn't lying, There was a very obvious computer chip wedged into that tooth.

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh man oh shit-" Sollux quickly threw his coat to the side and began splashing the running water up into his face, washing blood as fast as it was leaking out of his gums.   
After ten miutes of struggling and stumbling around in the bathroom Sollux had wedged a ball of tissue where he was bleeding and took a seat on the floor. 

"Im- 

It'th out." 

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT." 

"It wath true. There'th thomething in that tooth." 

"Oh shit wait- who is tracking that tooth?" 

"I don't know. Maybe the helmthman." 

"The who-" 

Blue came sprinting into the Bathroom, curling up next to Sollux almost whimpering. 

"Holy shit what ith it Blue?" 

But then he heard- The distant sound of a helicopter outside. It seemed to only get louder. 

"Shit I think they're here." 

"HIDE?!"

"FOUR THAID I NEEDED TO THURVIVE- will they kill me??" 

"I DONT KNOW JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE."

 

[Hide in the Bedroom or Bathroom.]


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the first time the votes came kinda close, but it was mostly bedroom.   
> Muahah

"OK OK UH. Fuck- To the bedroom. If they think you still have that shit in your tooth they'll go in there right?" 

"Right good idea-" Sollux stumbled back up to his feet and began looking around, anything in here he could use? He just grabbed the bloody pliers off the sink and rushed into the first room he could find, 4's room. As much as it made him feel sick Sollux had to hide in here somehow. Under the bed? That was probably his best option right now. Blue had followed and continued to whine and whimper next to the dead body of number 4. 

"Blue- Get down here now" Sollux whispered as he slid backwards under the bed, patting the ground to try and get blue to follow. But he just simply did not understand. He had circled around the bed many times, his tail wedged between his legs and letting out screeching yelps. They could both hear the helicopter outside now, the amount of noise coming from the propellers was enough to tell them that. 

"BLUE, DOWN HERE. NOW C'MON-" 

He was cut off by the sound of the door being slammed open. Sollux had stayed dead quiet, but Blue continued to whine, yelp and claw at the floor. 

"Blue, pleathe shhh. Pleathe thith one time jutht shut - sh. quiet" Sollux tried his best to be quiet, holding his hand out to try grab Blue's collar and drag him under. He could hear the footsteps, see the flashes of light form their torches. Blue scuttled around on the floor until wedging himself between the wall and the corpse of 4. Still whining though, Sollux didn't think he could stop that if he tried his damn best. The two of them watched as three men, fully clothed in thick armour and wielding a small handgun each. A gun in one hand, a torch in another. 

It seemed like one of the men had heard Blue's whining and got the attention of the other two. Pointing to the door of 4's room. One man had kicked the door right open, waving his torch around and spotting the body of 4. This made him wince, not really wanting to continue looking he just dismissed the other two to continue looking in other rooms.   
Sollux couldn't see much from where he was laying but he managed to catch a glimpse of the man. Another troll, equipped with large black goggles that seemed to be cracked. His horns were different to Sollux's though, two instead of four, a lot longer and appeared to have a bump on each one. Almost like arrows pointing to the sky. 

The troll continued to hear the whining, lower into heavy breathing. Whatever it was, it was coming from behind that body. 

With one swift motion he had completely kicked the corpse out of the way, saw Blue and shot without hesitation. 

Sollux was in tears within seconds, not making any noise he just watched as his dog collapsed to the ground, wheezing and bleeding out onto the cold concrete floor. 

'Nothing in here but a dog! And it seems number four had completed his task." The troll yelled out to the others. And with that he left the room, closing the door behind him. 

The bullet had entered Blue straight in the neck, getting lodged in halfway through and stopping the flow of oxygen. It may have only taken a second to end his life, but Sollux kept thinking back to the moment, replaying it in slow motion in his mind. He reached out to touch Blue's fur, he never appreciated how beautiful Huskies were until now. Their grey and white fur so carefully patterned, and that man had ended the life of this beautiful canine in one single second. 

Sollux could do nothing but wait for the men to leave. But before he could get out from under the bed the men re entered. All three of them this time. Sollux had to suck up his tears and continue to lay low. The three men were identical, numbers strapped to the arms of their coats, it seemed they had jus come back in to see if Blue was actually dead, which he was. 

It must have been almost 15 minutes after the men left. Back into their helicopter and back to wherever the fuck they had come from. Sollux crawled out from under the bed with what little strength he had, bursting out into quiet sobs and wheezes, he fell back onto the floor, crouching down next to Blue without even realising his knees had landed in the pool of blood that just seemed to never stop growing. "Fuck- Fuck Fuck Fuck what have I done. If I had dragged you under- FOR FUCKTH THAKE."   
Blue wouldn't want to see him angry like this, not at all.   
"Blue i'm- Fuck." Sollux took his gloves from his pocket and slipped them back on. He attempted to pick Blue up multiple times, slipping whenever he had a good grip and dropping him again. He eventually did get a hold of the husky and began walking outside. 

He laid Blue down in the snow and began covering the body with snow, watching it slowly turn red beneath his feet. This was the closest to a burial Blue would have in this unforgiving wasteland. 

Wiping the tears from his face Sollux picked up the Comm from inside. 

"I'm going to the factory. I'm leaving right the fuck now. And I finding that thon of a bitch Helmthman." 

"What- happened? You were gone for like half an hour?" 

"I'll explain on the way." 

[Karkat: Ask about Sollux's health or Ask about the helicopter]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha wow ok I never said Blue couldn't die depending on these decisions.   
> Rest in peace man.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow   
> I guess no one was expecting this   
> I wasn't to be honest   
> But I suppose 'm back? Hopefully my writing has improved a little from last time-  
> But new collge! New me! New username! Fun fun   
> I'll probably just finish this story because I've had my mind on it recently   
> Thank you to anyone who stuck around for this horrendous crossover that just makes me emotional !  
> Should probably mention that Karkat is gonna get something in this, and I'm using the whole trolls and humans share a planet ancestors are parents / dancestors are siblings thing because   
> When I started this I had no fucking clue how I was doing this shit. 
> 
> Also while reading through old chapters it came to my attention that Sollux's lisp can be annoying and horrid to read, so I'm leaving that shit out when he rants

Sollux trudged through the snow without looking back once, he kept himself quiet for a short while and let Karkat try to ask him what's wrong while also spouting directions in his ears every once in a while. He took this short time to think back through the last few days. Because what the fuck. He had to explain what he knew to his friend a little more clear, but for now, he had his mind set purely on talking about his problems and how much his head hurt. 

"Then if you continue walking forward you should see-" 

"Hey, can I athk you thomething?" 

"Uh huh." 

"How are you hearing me?" 

"On this old communications thing, it belonged to my dad, but he never uses it anymore. I thought it was fucking broken but apparently not." 

"I mean, why do you, of all people, have my thignal? Are you near? Or.. I don't know. I'm tired. And my feet, I can't feel them anymore." 

Sollux shivered at he spoke, his voice was shaky and he was finding it a challenge to keep himself from audibly breaking down. He wasn't even excited when he began seeing an outline of a large building down in the distance, it was just another crazy occurrence in this chain of bullshit. 

"Honestly, no fucking clue." Karkat was going to spurt out something about him being involved in this crazy narrative somehow when he stopped talking, hearing someone at his door. "Hold on." He went offline to see what the disturbance was, leaving Sollux to his thoughts alone. 

\----------------------------

Karkat slid his chair out from under his desk with a sigh and a long stretch, clicking his spine and neck from side to side. "Yeah I'm coming." He half yelled when the knocking at the door grew louder and more impatient. He got up from his seat and made his way through his room. Damn. He hadn't really left the last few days while talking to his mysterious friend and not going to lie, he had doubts. He had multiple thoughts about how this could be an elaborate prank on him but it didn't seem likely.  
Before getting caught up in more thoughts Karkat held the handle of his door and swung it open halfway to peer outside. 

It was his dad, standing In the doorframe with a crooked grin, Karkat having no time to speak before he was scooped up and dragged into a warm embrace. "Fucking hell-" he murmured as he hugged back weakly, just hanging his arms around the figure in front of him without much effort, he was quite confused. "What do you want?" 

"Karkat, ah you've been cooped up in your room for days, are you playing online D and D again? You know how much time that takes up-" 

"What? No I haven't played D and D in like, months!" He crossed his arms once he was placed back down on the floor, not noticing his dad striding right toward the communications device. Karkat couldn't blame him, he used to own it after all. 

"Does it still work?" 

Karkat froze, maybe he should've put it away? Thrown it under his bed? Either way he had his mind invested in contacting 'Captor' and seeing if he was alright. 

"No. It just sits there being useless." 

"Unfortunate. You know, me and my best friends used to use these things when we were your age, to contact eachother and mess with other frequencies." He must have been chuckling at the memories, because Karkat couldn't find anything funny about what his dad had said. 

"Perhaps you should try it sometime, if you get it to work." 

"Yea yea whatever, leave?" Karkat didn't mean to come across as mean or angry for once, he just wanted to be left alone and rest his voice from yelling into that machine for days. 

His dad eventually did leave after some more talk, closing the door behind him and letting Karkat jump back up to his desk and switch the device back on. 

\----------------------------

"Captor?" He spoke quietly, not wanting to attract attention and only speaking up once he could see his dad leaving the house.  
"Come on man, how far away are you?"

He didn't get a response at first. 

"Captor, you okay?"

"No-?" 

Phew. 

"What happened? You said you'd tell me but you just didn't."

"I- let me explain. 

I'm a clone, and, I'm the fifth one? Number 5. I got told what happened to the others.   
Number one dies cause he wasn't stable.  
I killed number two- but before that he kind of lost his mind. Something big happened that I don't know about and it messed up his head." It hurt to get the words out, but Sollux managed, even through his dry throat.   
"Number three went fucking insane with these weird powers? Killed the others in the relay station a while ago.   
Number four was made just to tell me all this. He seemed depressed- he was waiting for me for so long." The fact that his mouth still stung from him tearing out a tooth didn't help either. 

He stopped talking after that, letting Karkat ingest the information. 

"What the fuck.."

"I'm tired, sipping on disgusting stew, I can't feel my limbs and I think I might pass out if I don't fucking get inside or some more water in me... And I'm as clueless as you, I don't have any memories of what happened before here and- people grow up right? Did I grow up? How old- am I?"

Sollux had slowed down his walking, stopping himself from continuing to speak out loud because Karkat probably didn't know many answers.

"Just calm down alright, I'm sure you had some awesome childhood even as a clone, but you can't get stuck talking about his all now. Continue walking and let's get you somewhere safe."

Sollux turned his comm off to avoid letting Karkat hear his weak breathing and quiet sobs, he stuffed the thing into his pocket to take his first drink in days from the half empty water bottle. It felt fucking amazing. 

When he took the comm back out all he could hear was Karkat openly apologising about the events.   
"Hey, not your fault. I'm not far tho it'th alright-" 

He didn't want to think about it, and he was not going to tell Karkat about Blue yet, Sollux's mind was set less on survival and more on just getting to that factory at least. He spoke with less emotion, mostly from him being completely drained and simply tired. If he could lay down and sleep now, he would. 

"Right right- get there and get some answers, I'll be here." Karkat groaned as he swung back in his chair. God he needed something to eat... But did he? He looked toward the door and thought about how easy it was for him to get up and grab something from the kitchen, get a can of cola or just pour himself some water. It made him feel sick, because Sollux didn't have that normal supply of what he needed to live. 

"Don't die of something stupid like hypothermia, or starvation." 

"I'm motht likely to die of that. If I don't rethpond in a few hourth I'm dead." 

"Wait wha-"

Sollux hadn't told Karkat about what he'd seen either. It appeared to be a van of some sort... Maybe a truck, all he knew is that the back of the vehicle was open and he could probably get in there. Only problem was the guards, 2 of them standing by and speaking with one another by the door leading into the drivers seat. He turned Karkat off so he wouldn't make noise and give his presence away. He didn't recognise these guards, the two of them appeared different, female?   
Yes they were not the same as what Sollux had seen so far, which had been exclusively male soldiers and copies of himself. The two of them chatted in obnoxiously high pitched voices and had long black coats on that concealed most of their faces and bodies.

The names written in their sleeves were hard to decipher so Sollux didn't think too much into it, for now he had to decide what he was going to do, without Karkat to ask or tell him. 

[ Shoot a flare to distract them,Try to sneak onto the vehicle OR Ignore the van and walk to the factory by foot]


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup bitches  
> I swear I'll finish this someday.  
> Someday..
> 
> Y'all collectively decided Sollux should shoot that flare and distract them,, was it the right decision?  
> owo let's see
> 
> I use owo ironically I'm so sorry.

Sollux had to sit and think for a moment, taking heavy breaths and watching the cold mist rise from his open mouth. It wasn't new, the cold brought this with it.  
Muttering some words of encouragement to himself, he was able to slide his hand down into a warm pocket of his coat and pull out the flare gun he's been thinking about these last few moments. 

He had one shot left out of his original two.. and he really hoped that wouldn't get him killed. Not yet, if it had been a few days ago he wouldn't have cared too much about death. But now he had something to figure out, he had to know where he came from before he died. 

The flare gun was cold despite being left in a warm spot, his hand flinched away from the dull feeling at first but he slowly got used to it. Aiming was hard, as his sight was starting to fail him, closing in on the edges of his vision. Wether that was from the cold or sheer pulsing pain he didn't know. Sollux soon built the courage to shoot, his arms recoiling back from the small burst of light and heat.  
Before he knew it he was up and back on his feet. 

The two guards were immediately staring at the flare, gasping and holding their hands out, claws springing from the knuckles as if by impulse. Sollux didn't grab a good look, he was too busy trying to sneak into the back of the van without making too much noise.  
He slowly did make it, gasping for air behind his hands to muffle the sound of his shaking breath. He could hear those high pitched noises again, yelling and hollering in the direction the flare was shot from. 

Sollux tried his hardest to stay deathly quiet, like a corpse, dead still with his legs curled up against his chest. Time passed, the hollering quieted down, and he came to a quick realisation that no one else was in the van. No driver, it was pretty much open to operate...

 

\-------

This might have gone better if Sollux knew how to drive a vehicle. 

Not long after the talking stopped Sollux had dragged himself to close the van doors and climb into the drivers seat. The guards were back at their spot beside the passenger door and as soon as he saw that silhouette, Sollux thought his heart might stop.  
He couldn't move, all he could do was watch the head turn and look him dead in the eyes.  
The moment seemed to last forever, staring down those shining olive eyes that seemed to burn a hole right through his own mismatched pair. 

"Get him!" He guard shreiked and the moment was over, Sollux slammed his foot down on a pedal and felt the van accelerating at an alarmingly fast pace. He could hear the screaming again, that horrid high pitched yelping that slowly died out the more he drove.

He only stopped when he was sure those two couldn't catch up with him. In the middle of no where it seemed, other than the distant fogged image of a building ahead. That was his next stop.  
But for now he supposed he deserved a break and a chat, maybe some food if the van could provide. 

Lugging himself from the driver seat to the back felt a little easier now he was inside something, no longer being slammed with constant cold wind. He held the Comm out and rested it on one of the boxes, switched it on and started searching. 

"Hey I thto-" 

"Don't fucking do that oh my god. You can't just say I'll be dead if I don't respond! Do you know how much that can fuck someone up?!" 

"I thtole a big car, I think, a van. And I avoided conflict." 

There was an audible sigh from Karkat's end. "Good. Are you safe?" 

"For now." 

Sollux was caught off guard by the sound of another distant voice on Karkat's line. 

"Are you not alone?"

"No my brother is in here, he's talking on the phone to a friend so he isn't interested in what I'm saying don't worry." 

"It'th not that. I didn't know you had a brother." 

"Yea he's fucking annoying though." The emphasis on the word annoying was somewhat humorous to Sollux, and a small laugh escaped him as he shifted through boxes. Ah finally, rations of more dried jerky meat and a few bottles of water. They were probably meant for those guards but... He felt like he needed this more than them. 

"Don't complain too much." Sollux commented as he chewed down on the gritty food. 

Karkat rolled his eyes, but of course that couldn't be seen. "I forget that you probably get lonely out there." 

"Well hopefully I won't be out here for long."

"You plan on leaving? How?"

"I don't know yet. But when I do I'll come vithit you." 

Karkat was silent for a moment or two. "Thanks." 

 

\-------

Obviously nothing nice lasts forever.  
Sollux had a good half an hour before he heard yelling closing in behind him again. These guards were tough... and from what he saw they looked to be running on all fours.  
That wasn't natural... at least Sollux didn't think it was. 

He hurried back to the driver's seat, but by the time he had started accelerating he coukd hear the sounds of scraping metal on the back of the van. A small yell and hissing came after, only one managed to grip onto the van, and it was with those long piercing claws.  
Sollux sped up in hopes it would somehow force the enemy away, but it didn't and now he was trying to make sure all the food and water he found was in the passenger's seat so it couldn't fall out the back of the van. 

"Captor what is that??" 

"Fucking annoying guard, got on my van- hold on." Sollux stopped the vehicle with a quick foot to the breaks, the movement causing the guard to head but the metal door with flying force. A groan could be heard and Sollux started the car again. 

Rinse and repeat until the claws slowly slid away from the door and the weight was lifted. Now he was close, so close to the factory that he had to stop in fear of being seen again. The building towered over him, it was huge. Reaching new heights, it had to have at least ten floors and the sheer size of the area was unbelievable. He dreaded having to navigate through there. 

"I made it. I think... if thith ithn't ALT I'm going to go apeshit." 

"Be careful, it seems like everyone out here is after you." 

"Tell me about it." 

Sollux turned to the supplies and stuffed what he could in his pockets. He had to drop the empty flare gun to make room, and that somewhat struck a nerve in him that made his face twist into a pout. He found that when he found Blue...  
Blue, he had seemed to forget until now. Maybe it was thrill of the moment, but now he was struck with that throbbing sadness and his chest hurt. 

"I need to get out of here." He muttered and shoved the Comm into his hood, between that and the thick makeshift scarf he had made out of scrap fabric from the van. It rested over his mouth and nose in an attempt to keep that warm when he left. 

The gust of cold air hit him like bullets, it rang in his ears and his hood was dragged back up over his horns. He already regretted this. 

"You can't just waltz in there, hold on, I should have done this earlier but I asked a friend of mine some stuff about your situation." 

"Why bring thith up Now? I need a way to get in not gotthip." 

"No no he's a hacker, he managed to get a simple map of that place but nothing more, I can kind of direct you to where the vents are." 

"... tell him I thay thankth." 

 

"Yeah yeah. Right... so where are you now? Or rather, what number is on the nearest door?" 

"Uh the door to my left hath a big three on it." 

A moment of silence, distant buffs of Karkat's brother in the background. 

"Okay is anyone guarding it?" 

"...no." 

"Appraoch it, there's a ventilation system that runs either side of that door. It leads down to where they keep their vehicles I think. The vent on the right of the door is longer and will take you past the vehicles. The one on the left is shorter but you'll have to get past that whole area." 

[Left vent or Right vent?]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys don't kill Sollux once I'm going to be so proud.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The choice in the comments was a tie, so, I got a friend to make the final decision... Let's see what happens aye.

"Ok... I'll go right, they won't thee me in there." 

"Up to you..." 

Sollux took one last look at his surroundings, double checking there was no one else there and... He sprinted to the vent, the extra weight of the bottled water felt like it was dragging him down, shoes trudging while kicking snow up behind himself. Only steps away he felt his foot slide under his weight and his whole body came crashing down into the frozen water. He gasped for breath, his shaking arms only barely being able to hold his head above the ground. "Fuck.." Muttering repeated curse words, his jaw chattering uncontrollably. The only things stopping his hands from becoming completely frozen were the gloves and Sollux's pure will to get inside, anywhere warmer than here. Slowly, gathering strength that was mostly made up in his own mind, Sollux got himself to his feet and he used his numb, unfeeling feet to kick the vent off it's hinges.  
They were either weak, or he had some kind of unknown untroll-like leg power. 

Either way, he didn't care, his head was set on getting in that vent and away from here before he feared the worst for himself. Getting back down into a crouch he took his first move into the vent, ducking his head and pulling the hood forward so his horns didn't scratch against the metal. "Okay I'm in the vent... can you direct me?" 

"Uh fuck yeah... hmmm

Soon you should get to a split in the road, the whole vent system will slowly rise also so be careful about that. Take the first right." 

"Alright." 

And just like Karkat had said, there was a gradual rise in the vent system, it made it a little harder to move and the melting snow from his clothes made him slip but Sollux wasn't about to complain. He took the right, and he felt a very obvious change in the material of the vent. This wasn't the same, it felt weaker and Sollux stopped right in his tracks. 

"I don't think I can go thith way..." He spoke into the Comm and got quieter as he did, the fear of being heard by someone inside crept up his neck his another cold shiver from the wind inside, making his hair stand on end.  
"Why not?" 

"I don't think the vent will hold me..."

"There's no other way for you to go! The left turn is a dead end." 

"I can't do thith, oh fuck. Oh fuck." Sollux still spoke in whispers, and he could feel his heart and body trembling under the large coat that took up most of the room in there... he was skinny after all, that clothing was quite possibly the problem here.

"Dude calm down, just back up slowly." 

Sollux nodded, doing as he was instructed with extreme caution. He guided his feet back, then his knees... 

But then he could feel the floor beneath his hands slipping away. In his mind it played out in slow motion, the sound of creaking and sudden snap, the thin material clashing against itself and giving way for Sollux to fall through. There was no time to register where he was or how badly he had fallen on his shoulder, The pulsing pain there from the impact started after a loud, literal bone shattering crack was heard. Yells erupted his throat, as much as he wanted and knew he had to stay quiet. The pain of a broken bone was simply too much on his weak form.  
This caught attention, a lot of unwanted attention. The sounds of yells and running footsteps down the halls was loud and clear and deafening noise against the pumping of his own heart in his ears. "Hey..." He shook into the Comm, holding it tight with one hand that was free, the other clutching his shoulder as he rocked on the floor in pure agony. Sollux closed his eyes, shut tight with his head rested against the Comm. 

"They're here, they're after me, I can't-"  
His voice was drowned out by yelling, guards had surrounded the goldblood, holding large guns to his body and nudging him in all directions at once. The points of the harpoons they were loaded with stung even more when one guard leaned down to tear the coat from his body. Their horns were curved back in some sort of wave, and their long capes could be mistaken for coats at first. Through it all his eyes remained shut, the Comm had been taken from his hands and he screamed in protest, so much that his throat felt dry and coarse. "Cap-" Karkat only got those words out before the guard smashed the device onto the ground and signalled the others. 

They were the same, all in sync with one another. Just like everything else in this horrid wasteland. 

 

All at once everything went quiet, cold, numb. Sollux barely felt the harpoons entering his body in multiple areas, one in his back, one at each side, one going right through his stomach and being pulled out almost immediately after. The rest stayed, being entered in such a precise way that made sure none of the metal rods collided in his body. It left an empty feeling in his torso. Feeling the breeze there, feeling it against his insides. He was unable to register the pain then, his entire body was swallowed by the burning feeling in his throat as the blood gurgled up and poured from his lips. It stained his clothes, his face, his hands that were weakly palming at the wounds. Gold smudged into the ground, forming a puddle at his knees and around his shivering body.  
Everything went completely silent, and his head fell onto the ground, lifeless, left hunched in his dying stance. 

[Connection lost] 

 

[Attempting reconnect...]

 

[...] 

 

[...]

 

[...]

 

[Welcome!]

 

[Would you like to try again?] 

[Try left vent?]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One death down!


End file.
